Luke Haines: 21st Century Man/Achtung Mutha

“Being Luke Haines sucks” is quite an opener.

I don’t feel any sympathy for Luke, mind you. His Twitter feed is one of the saddest around these days.

It’s a poor review and a lot of it is spent attacking Luke’s success. If you want to give a fair three star review, start with Luke’s latest solo dud. BBR didn’t deserve a hatchet job.

http://i64.tinypic.com/b8of0z.jpg
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Beaumont wouldn’t have written such a vitriolic review if he wasn’t so moneumentally butthurt over Haines’ anti-NME remarks in the pub wake of its closure

He's a pretty easy target, though. Dude has reacted similarly to other negative reviews. I don't think he should be as opinionated as he is if he can't handle a little heat in his direction. That Beaumont review is complete shit (BBR were a great act, and the review is full of ad hominem bs including remarks about album sales), but I could Luke writing something equally as petty and vindictive. His Twitter had also devolved into a suffocatingly negative and sad little outpost on the internet. If something's acclaimed or popular, Luke hates it and he's here to tell you why!

I agree with every single word of that Mark Beaumont review.

excuse me, i’m just savouring the idea of ‘attacking luke’s success’

Would 'limited success' have sufficed?

Yeah, what success? As far as I'm concerned, he was more famous for going ballistic at artists that had (and deserved) more success than him, music journalists and sometimes members of his own band. It certainly had dick-all to do with his music, which sold to next to nobody even when his career was at its peak. Beaumont is right - those that have enabled Haines to have a career in music have given him far more time and opportunities that deserves, the guy is known for having a bit of an attitude problem, and it's 2018 and no fucker is going to buy this box set.

*that=than he.

I don't see what any of that has to do with the music Black Box Recorder made.

I was responding to your idea that the review was an "attack" on "Luke's success" - of course Beaumont also wrote about the music, and he was also OTM about that - in fact "bloodless Bontempi Tindersticks" couldn't be more accurate.

Haines was about the only thing I like about Twitter. I always felt there was something a bit pantomime about his ultra-elitist schtick, and yet it gets taken ultra-seriously.

I take it at face value, as someone Luke blocked for making a rather innocuous comment. He seems terribly thin skinned.

https://bigtakeover.com/news/SongPremiereJackParsonsbyLukeHainesPeterBuck

Musical luminaries Luke Haines and Peter Buck have joined up on a new album titled Beat Poetry For Suvivalists that will arrive on March 6th of next year via Ominivore Recordings.

That’s right – You read it here first – Quite an unlikely, but very welcome, pairing between Haines (who is also a visual artist), the acerbic mastermind and guitarist behind the UK’s pre-Brit-pop indie pop-rock band The Auteurs, and Buck, the guitarist extraordinaire of US indie (and, then, well, not-so-indie) band R.E.M..

In an interesting turn of events that led to the formation of this collaboration, one day Buck bought one of Haines’ paintings of Lou Reed. They had never met before, but decided that the fates had brought them together and they should write some songs together and make an album.

Beat Poetry For Survivalists is that album. It features songs about legendary rocket scientist and occultist Jack Parsons (The Enfield Hauntings, 1978), a post-apocalyptic radio station that only plays Donovan records, Bigfoot, and Pol Pot.

The Big Takeover is delighted to host the exclusive premiere of said “Jack Parsons,” a quirky and shambling track that runs on trippy psych-guitar squelch and chime and a plethora of sounds that flit in and out of the song.

“Jack Parsons” (the song, not the man) is filled with clacking to frittering percussion, twisty space noises, harmonica reverb, and found sound clips – and of course dashingly delivered stream-of-consciousness lyrics that are just as diverse and divertingly dented as the sound. One wonders what to think of the celebrated Parsons now after listening to this striking odd-pop track…

Not that bad, surprisingly.

Cautiously optimistic about this new thing.

Here's an interview with Luke & Peter Buck:

http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article/9531/Luke-Haines-and-Peter-Buck-Interview

REM were unbelievably dull, so I am not optimistic

He hasn't made a great album in a while, but the reviews for the new one sound encouraging. On the other hand, they all seem to follow a similar template through the years: "THE DEVIOUS MADMAN OF BRITPOP BOMBTHROWER IS HERE TO DETONATE ANOTHER BOMB ON THE INDUSTRY!" or some such, with some references to a twisted lyric or two.

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/348568-luke-haines-setting-the-dogs-on-the-post-punk-postman.php

In any case, I like the album cover and the name quite a bit. It's funny.

https://cdn2.albumoftheyear.org/500x/album/348568-setting-the-dogs-on-the-post-punk-postman.jpg

*giggle*

Ooh, thanks for the heads up! Despite being an American who missed some of his more obscure (to me, anyway) references, I used to be a huge Haines fan—dug the solo albums, shelled out for all the Auteurs LPs on vinyl. I lost interest with the wrestling LP, though; his m.o. seemed like diminishing returns, and while this usually don’t affect my opinion of an artist’s work, I came across his Twitter and he seemed dickish in a very petty way, rather than “amusing misanthrope” à la his book. I’ll probably give this a spin for nostalgia’s sake, though, as I pulled out Baader-Meinhoff recently and still loved.

Wow, looking at Discogs, I hadn’t realized how many albums I missed since 2011.

Out of his post-11 releases, I suggest the Buck collaboration. Probably his best since the wrestling album.

Avoid:

Sometimes I Dream of Glue - weird in a bad way. It’s about horny figurines or some such nonsense; songs sound like they were written by a computer with Luke Haines AI

British Nuclear Bunkers - sounds like he bought his first keyboard and thought noodling was enough for his loyal fans

New ones out.

His best melodies and songs in years.

Genuinely great release.

There is a song where he keeps saying he wants to bury his face between a woman's breasts and legs, numerous times. That one's not so good.

"I don't want to be buried in the garden / Unless it's the garden beneath your belly / in between your legs"

lol.

He sounds kind of happy on the album. I think that's why I like it.

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/the-auteurs-luke-haines-r-e-m-s-peter-buck-prep-all-the-kids-are-super-bummed-out-stream-a-track/

New album is another vast step up. Makes so much difference when he's working with other (enthusiastic) musicians.

It is great. He’s clearly having fun and very inspired by the partnership.

I’ve played it front to back several times and it’s LONG. This rules, quite honestly. Hope they keep at it.

He’s gotten a bit of an MES affectation to his singing-uh.